Centrifugal separator.



n, assiernon 'ro THE nn Lavar.

lill TOR COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N.. Y., A CORPOTION OF NEW JERSEY.

` CENTMFUGAL' SEPARTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented dpr.. 23, llhtll.

To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that l, MnREDITH Lnrrcrr, a citizen of the United States,residing lat Poughkeepsie, county of Dutchess, and State of New York,have invented a new and useful lmprovement in Centrifugal Separators,

of which the following is a full, clear, and

exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which form a part of this specification.

My invention, relates to improvements 1n centrifugal separators andparticularly to the members which receive the discharged separatedconstituents from the rotary separating bowl lln centrifugal separatorsfor milk, the members which receive the cream and skim milk, after theyescape from the separatlng bowl, are ordinarily called the cream coverand the skim milk cover, the lower parts of these covers being calledrespectively the cream hopper and the' skim milk'hopper.y ln the usualconstruction of these'lmem ers there is a narrow clearance between theinner edge of each of these hoppers and the upper part of the bowl. Inspite of the bowl being as smooth as possible it has considerabl'e faneect and draws air down through these clearances and expels it throughthe drain tube and through the space around the top bearing of the bowl.The large spray of milk from the skim milk outlet of the bowl acts as aninspirator and forces air out through the skim milk spout. rll`he airfor both these discharges is drawn in through the cream spout and passesin a strong draft down through the clearance between the bowl neck andthe inner edge of the cream hopper. rllhis strong draft tends to drawwith it some of the cream, which is then caught with the skim milk andwasted.

The object of my invention is to prevent this draft and so provide amore ecient machine.

ln the accompanying drawing the figure bowl. rEhe frame of the machinehas a bowl casing Z within which the bowl a revolves and from which thedrip tube m leads. The bowl is supported and driven by the shaft nrevolving ma spring supported bearing, not. shown, around which there isnecessarily considerable clearance.

Below the hopper f, and high enough to have the skim milk, from theoutlets c, pass under it, is a disk o with a small clearance at p fromthe bowl neck. rlhe hopper f is shaped, throughout a sector of anydesired dimensions, `'to a'ord a relatively wide space between itand thedisk o and provide a free air inlet. passage g to the space betweenhopper f and disk o as shown on the left hand side of the ligure.

- Except for the addition of the disk o and the shaping of the hopper fof the cream cover ci', the drawing is illustrative of a cream separatorof the prior art.

With the ordinary construction, wherein there is no disk o and whereinthe cover el and its hopper f have throughout substantially the shapeand location shown on the right hand side of the figure, the bowl,acting as a fan due to its very high speed of rotation, establishes 'aiowV of air through the spout e into the cream receiving chamber andthence down through the clearances at g and la, the air being expelledmainly through the drip tube m and partly through the clearance aroundthe bearing. The jets of skim milk from the outlets 0 drive a portion ofthe down-flowing air out through the skim milk spout z'. lln my improvedconstruction, the entering air all comes in through the passage Q and,passing between the cream receiving chamber and the milk receivingchamber, Hows mainly down through the clearance p into the milkreceiving chamber. rlhence partf'iof the air passes out the spout z' andpart passes down through the clearance lc into the space between thebowl and its cover. A relatively small part of the air entering thepassage Q flows upward through the clearance at g and outward throughthe cream spout'at c.

lln the description and claims l have, for brevity, used the terms creamand skim milk as synonymous with the terms lighter constituent andheavier constituent.

v rlhe invention is, of course, applicable to a centrifugal separatorfor any liquids.

Having now fully described my invenlll@ tion, what I desire to-claim andprotect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a centrifugal separator, the combination with a revolubleseparator bowl provided with skim milk and cream dis-v charge outlets,of a crcamhover and a skim milk cover arranged around the upper part ofthe bowl and havin 'clearances between their inner edges and t e upperpart of the bowl, discharge spouts vcommunicating with the chambersformed by said covers, and means to establish, in the rotation of thebowl, a current of air upwardly through the clearance between the creamcover and the bowl, thereby reversing the direction-of the usual aircurrent flow and preventing any admixture between the separated creamand the separated skim milk.

2. In a centrifugal separator, the combination with a revolubleseparator bowl having skim milk and cream discharge outlets, of a creamcover and a skim milk cover forming adj acent'cream receiving and skimmilk receiving chambers, and means independent of the cream receivingchamber to supply air to the skim milk receiving chamber.

3. In a centrifugal separator, the combination with a revoluble bowlhaving skim milk and l cream discharge outlets, of a cream receivingchamber communicating with the cream outlet, a skim milk receivingchamber communicating with the skim'milk outlet, and a chamber open. tolthe at| mosphere and arranged between the cream neeafise Y coverincluding a hopper vhaving a clearance between its inner edge land theupper part of the bowl, a skim milk cover including a hop er havin aclearance between its inner edge and t e upper part of the bowl,

.and a disk between the covers and spaced from both hoppers andaffording between the disk and the hopper of the cream cover a space forthe admission of air in the rotation of the bowl.

5. In a centrifugal separator, the combination with a revolubleseparator bowl having skim milk and' cream discharge outlets, of astationary bowl casing having an outlet and surrounding the bowl andspaced therefrom to' form a bowl chamber, and covers arranged to form acream receiving chamber and a skim milk receiving chamber, thearrangement being such as to tend, in the rotation of the bowl, todischarge air from the bowl chamber and one of the other chambers, andmeans independent of the third chamber tosupply air for said discharge.

In testimony of which invention, I have hereunto set my hand atPoughkeepsie, N. Y., on this 21st day of July, 1917.

MEREDITH LEI'ICH.

